No Ugly Ornament Preview: Paper Ballerinas

@mvemother Paper Ballerina No Ugly Ornament Preview


Last November I ventured into unfamiliar crafting waters when I challenged myself to make a Christmas ornament every day of the month.  Thankfully I had only one prerequisite, set out by my oldest son, it couldn’t be ugly.  Now, I can’t lie, where there are winners there are losers.  Not every ornament made it onto our tree but it was still fun and brought our family together creatively.  While I looked forward to doing it all over again this year I also knew I wanted to shake things up, so…

This year, I’m so excited to announce that craft and DIY bloggers from around the blogosphere will be visiting and sharing their favorite ornament tutorials every day for the entire month of November, and don’t worry they know the rules…it can’t be ugly!

I know November is still two weeks away but I had to kick things off right so today I’m sharing my newest ornament, a Paper Ballerina!  Follow the read more- link below to find out how to make your own!




Paper Ballerinas

Supplies
  • This image from Graphics Fairy
  • glitter glue
  • book pages or any other thinner paper
  • vellum
  • hot glue gun
  • needle and gold thread
Directions

Since the first time I spied this image on Karen’s site I knew I wanted to make an ornament out of it.  The original plan was just a bit of glitter embellishments but after I printed her out I knew I wanted to add another dimension to her skirt.  I’m getting ahead of myself, start off by printing out your image.  Be sure to FLIP it in whatever program you are using so that you’ll have a front and back that line up.  (If you don’t know how to do this I can give you quick instructions using Word, just let me know.)
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After cutting the two ladies out, I carefully glued them together using glitter glue.  Why glitter glue?  I’m not the most consistent cutter outer, this way if my cuts don’t match up the glitter shows not the white of the paper.

As she dried I made two small medallions with my Martha Stewart folding tool out of the old book pages.  I originally tried using scrapbooking paper but the kind I have is to think and didn’t fold well at all. The size of your medallions depends on the size of your girl.  You’ll want it to go from tip to tip of her skirt.

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Next, I glued the medallions along the top line of the skirt.  I had to unfold the medallion a little and work the paper to get it to curve.  Just play with it a little, I promise it’s not that hard.

@mvemother Paper Ballerina 4
@mvemother Paper Ballerina 5
Here’s where I started to hit a stumbling block.  She still needed something and for a moment I thought about adding steel wool…what?  It could’ve worked!

@mvemother Paper Ballerina  6
In the end I ended up going with another medallion 1/2 inch longer than the first and made of vellum.  I love this stuff!

@mvemother Paper Ballerina 7
Finally, I threaded a needle with the gold thread and put it through her head for hanging.  Wow, what a sentence.

@mvemother Paper Ballerina No Ugly Ornament Preview

Isn’t she lovely?

Comments

  1. Cute DIY! Would love if if you linked up on my blog hop www.w-t-fab.com/search/label/bloghop. Also let me know if you'd like to follow each other!

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  2. Erin, this is really pretty! If this is how you're getting started, then you're definitely setting the bar high for the rest of us in the No Ugly Ornaments Challenge.

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  3. She is so pretty - thank you for the detailed instructions and the link to the lovely ballerina.

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  4. Funny I was actually making some today with a different graphic!! I am a new follower. Love yours!

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  5. These turned out so nice! I really love what you did with the skirts! Have a good time with all of your ornaments this year!!

    Take care,

    Trish

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  6. This is so sweet. Make me want to start on ornaments!

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  7. I love this Erin!! I'm going to be featuring it on Brag Monday next week!

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  8. What a unique and very cool November you had last year and will have again this year!

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  9. She is so cute! I have all kinds of ideas running through my head now...thanks for the inspiration!

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  10. Cute title and header for your blog. Found you thru Brag Monday on Graphics Fairy. If I can make those skirts I'll be surprised but gonna actually give it a try. I'm a bit of a chicken but if I want something bad enuf I'll take a whack at it. Thx for great inspiration. I'm a new subscriber.

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  11. Looks like something out of the victorian era, how cool!

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  12. Love this idea, the skirt has great dimension, I will try this if I can figure out the flipping part. I'm following you now, hope you will check out my blog. Barb

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  13. Yes, it's fabulous! I love making ornaments and sometimes make them right up until Christmas Eve. I love what you did with the ballerina, making her 3 dimensional. Wonderful. Come and link her up to my Christmas Ornament Party if you would like. Hope to see you. Linda

    How does one become part of the No Ugly Ornament Event?

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